Categories TTW Ephemera

A few of the shared libraries that pop up at SJCPL! Bruce Connoly has an article in the new Computers in Libraries that presents an incredible idea: use iTunes built in sharing capaibilty to share music with library users! Connoly discovers other folks music librraies showing up when he opens iTunes. His thinking, sparked by the recent EDUCAUSE conference and Joan Lippincott’s article on serving Net Gen users, leads to this: We started by creating a playlist called “Schaffer Library – New Music” consisting of about 2 dozen songs. We used complete songs, not samples. Generally, we included no more […]

Isn’t it astounding how so many people have been able to have a voice, and share, and collaborate, and work toward common goals in these spaces this year? I have met so many incredible, brilliant folks. So many wonderful experiences played out as well. I am truly grateful to have been involved. What a crazy year this has been. I want to thank all the folks who have inspired me and supported me through school, blogging, conferences writing and work. You know who you are. “All I ever wanted was to know that you were dreaming…”

Good review at the Social Software blog: http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/entry/1234000893069303/ To say that AOL’s new AIM program is an instant messenger is to diminish it unacceptably. AIM Triton, as the program is now called, is an online communicator that bundles IM, email, voice chat, video chat, browsing, bookmarking, and RSS aggregation into a two-window interface. This whopping upgrade to previous AIM configurations adds welcome features, but also—disappointingly for a program now out of beta—still houses a couple of bugs…

Michael Casey posts at Library Crunch: As chair of my library system’s Emerging Technology committee, I made it a point to choose two IT staffers to serve on this six person committee. The charge of the committee is to examine both new technologies and technologies that may be new to the library world (though they are used in other areas). Many of the products and services we examine are in early beta stages, or they are only being used by a small handful of institutions. Once again, Mr. Casey eloquently states something I deeply believe: libraries need a Technology Think […]

I think we’re still reeling from the intensive, incredible 4 days at Chicago Public library. I’m glad Jenny reminded me of these to add to the list of Abram’s incredible thoughts on the world of libraries.

Jenny sent me this link: http://syndicateblog.petersons.com/wordpress/index.php/indiana-department-of-education-is-podcasting/ Good news. Maybe we aren’t so Tech Poor!

http://librarianinblack.typepad.com/librarianinblack/2005/11/text_a_libraria.html This is huge and should not be ignored. Read Sarah’s excellent overview of South Eastern Louisiana University’s SMS Reference project. Two Ultra-HOT bits of many: He also noted that an ongoing issue is trying to limit your response to 160 characters. You can send the response in multiple messages, but librarians tend to try their hardest to fit it into one. The system auto-abbreviates some words (for-4, too-2). What an excellent point and a big vote for librarians to really “get” the vernacular of chat. We can’t ignore it much longer if we are to be relevant to future […]

“Social Software for the Rest of Us” is at the ALA TechSource Blog

This blows me away. It says what I’ve been trying to articulate here and in talks. We need spaces in our libraries for collaboration and experience with Web 2.0 tools. Thomas Frey offers the same suggestion in his piece on the Future of Libraies, that we all should read over and discuss in our respective staff meetings. http://www.davinciinstitute.com/page.php?ID=120 Experiment with creative spaces so the future role of the library can define itself. Since the role of the library 20 years from now is still a mystery, we recommend that libraries put together creative spaces so staff members, library users, and […]

” It seems like at a lot of schools, the IT department controls every technology choice. Rather than educating faculty members on how to create wikis and blogs and use other cool technologies in the classroom, they keep faculty on a tight leash.” Meredith Farkas “One key justification for using virtual reference software rather than instant messaging software, shared with me at the state conference last week, is that many city IT departments don’t allow IM software. Which leads me to conclude: 1. Many city IT departments are too godlike, 2. Many libraries are unable to effectively work with IT […]